OLLENNU J.
(His lordship set forth the history of the proceedings, and continued:—)
I shall deal firstly with the issue whether or not there has been a valid arbitration upon the dispute between the plaintiff and the Caesar family so as to operate as a estoppel against the Caesar family.
It is not very material by what name the layman calls proceedings which in the eyes of the law amount to a binding arbitration—he may call it arbitration or settlement. Whether any particular proceedings constitute arbitration or negotiations for a settlement is a question of law, to be decided by the Court upon the evidence before it. In the case of arbitration, the award is binding upon the parties to it whether or not they accept it; the parties cannot resile after the award has been published. In the case of proceedings in the nature of negotiation for settlement of a dispute, the decision becomes binding only after it has been accepted by the parties, and not otherwise (see Gyeniwa v. Mumah (W.A.C.A…